Kent Bush: Campaign elements beyond tedium to terrible

Friday

After 20 debates, I guess you have to expect it to become tedious. But how many hours can you hear about universal medical coverage before you start needing to see a doctor yourself?

We have threaded down to "gotcha" moments now.

Neither candidate has anything new to offer. All they can do is look for a weak moment in their opponent, scream "Gotcha!" and dispatch the Hounds of Hell with press releases decrying those 13 seconds from the debate that might move the polls a half of a point.

But some elements of the campaign have risen beyond tedium to terrible.
Candidates have to have evil minions who agree to appear in their stead with the pundits on the dozens of political analysis shows on "news" television.

Those from the Hilary Clinton camp are frighteningly inferior.

A common theme among Clinton supporters is "Why doesn't the media take Sen. Barack Obama to task for" fill in the blank?

Most point to Obama's speech in 2002 where he said he opposed going into Iraq. However in 2004, when asked how he would have voted if he were already in the Senate when the vote occurred, he said "I don't know."

They want to know why Obama is given a free pass despite this apparent contradiction.

A better question is why the Clinton camp slumps in the back of their tour bus singing a rendition of Buck Owens' "Doom, Despair and Agony on Me," rather than using the millions of dollars in ads they are buying to point it out themselves.

They are too busy "not knowing" who sent out pictures of Obama dressed as a Somali elder to run an effectual campaign.

They missed with the message for so long that top campaign staff were replaced with hatchet men and women who merely orchestrate better "talking point" attacks on Obama while they still expect the media to run the campaign for them.

Clinton could have - and should have -- won the Democratic candidacy.
But her campaign committed political malpractice from the top down.

Obama is taking the candidacy from her because of his idealism and ability to characterize her candidacy however he wants. He can do this because they never characterized themselves.

Clinton has been all over the board. She rarely stays on theme and is even less likely to stay on point. All they can do now is whine and cry about how they are mistreated by the media.

Sen. John McCain, the soon to be Republican candidate, found out why you don't want to let the media run your campaign.

On Tuesday, he was singing along with Clinton and the Hee Haw gang: "If it weren't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all, Doom, despair and agony on me."

His campaign asked the host of "The Big Show" to help "fire up the crowd" at a Cincinnati campaign stop. Bill Cunningham did what conservative wonks do - he ranted like an idiot, made personal attacks and lowered the debate to school yard taunting.

He three times referred to Obama using his middle name of Hussein.
Cunningham pretends to mean no harm and only be calling a man by the name his parents gave him.

However, we all know that this is a play on the fear-mongering emails that someone in the Clinton campaign produced saying that Obama was a Muslim. It also unfairly and inconceivably ties Obama to other famous Husseins who the war in Iraq has been fought against.

On his radio show, Cunningham has also referred to Obama as "Barack Hussein Mohammed Obama" which is not the name his parents gave him. But why look to Cunningham for any accuracy or responsibility?

Of course McCain repudiated these comments and reiterated his position that his opponents would be treated with respect.
Cunningham didn't take this sanity lying down.

He has since claimed that he will join Ann Coulter in supporting Hilary Clinton and later even said he may support Ralph Nader. It is all merely saber rattling for effect.

Cunningham is so used to seeking the extremes to maintain a radio audience that he has lost touch with reality.

He whined that only liberal media members had freedom of speech.

He had every right to say all of the idiotic and foul things he said. But McCain also has the freedom to say he doesn't like the way Cunningham said it.

It is his political future at stake here.

Cunningham can continue being an idiot on the air for years. This is probably McCain's last shot.

We are at the point in the campaign where the transmission is whirring, waiting for each party to shift gears.

It is time for the end of the preliminary round and the beginning of the real race for the White House.

Hopefully the four primaries held March 4 will be decisive for both parties and we can see the end of the previews and get the real show started.

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